Gray for a Day helps caregivers, youth understand sensory decline in older adults
Class simulates some challenges associated with aging
At a glance: Gray for a Day, offered through local extension offices in Kansas, aims to simulate the challenges faced by older adults in daily routines, simple tasks and leisure and social activities due to sensory declines.
More information: Erin Martinez, 785-532-5510, erinmartinez@ksu.edu
Related: Adult Development and Aging: Gray for a Day
Sept. 17, 2025
K-State Extension news service
MANHATTAN, Kan. – At a glance, it may look a bit silly watching students in a classroom stuffing cotton balls in their ears or noses, taping popsicle sticks to their fingers and taping popcorn kernels to their feet.
Maybe even more so when the students are young or middle-aged adults.
But Kansas State University aging specialist Erin Martinez explains the activity is for a greater purpose. The students – some as young as kindergarten age, others professionals in the health industry – are learning valuable lessons related to sensory decline in older people.
“Often times,” Martinez said, “we think of the aches, pains and chronic diseases that older adults may face, and we may overlook that most people experience sensory decline that will affect their daily life.”
Martinez said it is typical for a person’s sense of hearing, taste, smell, sight and touch to gradually decline as they age.
“We may notice some of the sensory declines, but others may decline so little that it goes unnoticed,” she said. “It’s like a tire on a car; as you go and go and go, eventually it starts to wear down.”
Martinez helps to lead a program titled, Gray for a Day, offered through local extension offices in Kansas. She said the program aims to simulate the challenges faced by older adults in daily routines, simple tasks (such as opening a door) and leisure and social activities due to sensory declines.
So, indeed, class participants may use cotton balls to block hearing or smell. Or popsicle sticks attached to fingers simulate the stiffness associated with arthritis. Rubber gloves reduce a person’s sense of touch. Popcorn kernels taped to feet simulate the pain of diabetic neuropathy. And sensory glasses simulate the effects of macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma or cataracts.
Martinez said many older adults may also experience a decline in their sense of taste – particularly salty or sweet items. To compensate, those adults may add more salt or sugar to foods, which heightens other health risks, such as hypertension or diabetes.
“We want folks to understand what it could be like to experience sensory decline, and inspire them to engage in healthy lifestyle behaviors now to prevent it from happening for themselves,” Martinez said.
As a result, extension agents often present classes in K-12 schools, as well as to Kansas 4-Hers. Martinez said many K-State family and consumer science extension agents offer classes in their communities.
More information on Gray for a Day is available online at www.aging.k-state.edu/programs/grayforaday/grayforaday.html, or from local extension offices in Kansas.
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K‑State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well‑being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county extension offices, experiment fields, area extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K‑State campus in Manhattan. For more information, visit www.ksre.ksu.edu. K-State Research and Extension is an equal opportunity provider and employer.